kite

Where “kite” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.
2. 2
   A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.
3. 3
   A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.
4. 4
   A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.
5. 5
   A rapacious person.
6. 6
   A lightweight toy or other device, traditionally flat and shaped like a triangle with a segment of a circle attached to its base or like a quadrilateral (see sense 9), carried on the wind and tethered and controlled from the ground by one or more lines.
7. 7
   A tethered object which deflects its position in a medium by obtaining lift and drag in reaction with its relative motion in the medium.
8. 8
   A planetary configuration wherein one planet of a grand trine is in opposition to an additional fourth planet.
9. 9
   A blank cheque; a fraudulent cheque, such as one issued even though there are insufficient funds to honour it, or one that has been altered without authorization.
10. 10
    An accommodation bill (“a bill of exchange endorsed by a reputable third party acting as a guarantor, as a favour and without compensation”).
11. 11
    A rider who is good at climbs but less good at descents.
12. 12
    A polygon resembling the shape of a traditional toy kite (sense 3): a quadrilateral having two pairs of edges of equal length, the edges of each pair touching each other at one end.
13. 13
    An aeroplane or aircraft.
14. 14
    In a square-rigged ship: originally a sail positioned above a topsail; later a lightweight sail set above the topgallants, such as a studding sail or a jib topsail.
15. 15
    A spinnaker (“supplementary sail to a mainsail”).
16. 16
    The brill (Scophthalmus rhombus), a type of flatfish.
17. 17
    A (usually concealed) letter or oral message, especially one passed illegally into, within, or out of a prison.

Etymology

The noun is from Middle English kyte, kīte, kete (“a kite endemic to Europe, especially the red kite (Milvus milvus)”), from Old English cȳta (“kite; bittern”), from Proto-West Germanic *kūtijō, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kūts (“bird of prey”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH-d- (“to cry, screech”). The English word is cognate with Scots kyt, kyte (“kite; bird of prey”), Middle High German kiuzelīn, kützlīn (“owling”) (modern German Kauz (“owl”)). Possibly a doublet of coot. Sense 3 (“lightweight toy”) is from the fact that it hovers in the air like the bird. The verb is derived from the noun.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ikte,kiet,kitte,kkite,ktie

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kite - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions